NPR News Now - NPR News: 05-17-2025 3PM EDT

Episode Date: May 17, 2025

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A lot of short daily news podcasts focus on just one story. But right now, you probably need more. On Up First from NPR, we bring you three of the world's top headlines every day in under 15 minutes. Because no one story can capture all that's happening in this big crazy world of ours on any given morning. Listen now to the Up first podcast from NPR. Live from NPR News in New York City, I'm Duah Lise Icautau. President Trump says he will

speak Monday morning with Russian President Vladimir Putin to be followed by a call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The calls would come days after Putin skipped peace talks with Ukraine in Turkey, as NPR's Danielle Kurtz-Leibnir reports. Danielle Pletka In a social media post, Trump said that he will talk to Putin by phone at 10 a.m. Monday, then talk to Zelensky and quote, various members of NATO. This past week, Ukrainian and Russian officials met in Turkey for their first direct peace talks since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Zelensky had called for Putin to

attend but the Russian president did not go. On the campaign trail last year, Trump repeatedly said he would broker a peace deal between the two countries within 24 hours of taking office. Fighting has continued instead, and Trump has talked about wanting peace. After Russia sent missiles and drones to Ukraine in April, Trump posted on social media, Vladimir, stop. Danielle Kurtzleman and PR News. Severe weather killed at least 14 people in southern Kentucky Friday night and meteorologists are beginning to survey the damage. Shepard Snyder of member station WEKU reports. The National Weather Service confirmed

damage mostly in the towns of Somerset and London. The agency says the long path of the tornado could make damage assessments a multi-day process. Staffing shortages have caused Eastern Kentucky's NWS branch to be closed most nights. But meteorologist Christian Kassell says they were fully staffed in anticipation of the severe weather. The big thing we want to stress is if there's weather, we're staffed. Failure is not an option.

Kassell says the branch was able to alert residents around a half hour before the tornado landed. Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear says he's spoken with Homeland Security and FEMA officials. For NPR News, I'm Shepard Snyder in Richmond, Kentucky. Stocks finished up this week after the U.S. and China agreed to temporarily lower their most punishing tariffs. As NPR's Scott Horsley reports, investors are also welcomed an encouraging inflation report. Investors cheered the 90-day rollback of triple-digit tariffs, which had brought trade between the U.S. and China to a near

standstill. Most imports from China still face taxes of at least 30 percent, much higher than they were paying at the beginning of the year. But the temporary truce was enough to get goods flowing again, and investors are hoping for further relief. The government's latest inflation report showed little evidence that tariffs are pushing up prices yet. Consumer prices in April were up just 2.3 percent from a year ago. That's the smallest annual increase in more than four years. For the week, the Dow jumped 3.4 percent, the S&P 500 index rose 5.25 percent, and the NASDAQ soared more than 7 percent. Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington. Authorities in New Orleans are asking the public to help locate seven inmates who broke

out of the Orleans Parish Jail Friday morning. Officials warn not to approach the escapees, who may be armed and dangerous. You're listening to NPR News from New York. It's graduation weekend for many across the country. One commencement speaker is making headlines from the Midwest. At the University of Minnesota's law school ceremony today, Governor Tim Walz, the Democrats' former vice presidential nominee, accused President Trump of creating a national emergency and said quote, every single day the president of the United States finds new ways to trample

rights and undermine the rule of law. The Star Tribune reports that the crowd greeted his speech with loud applause. The first week of the closely watched Sean Diddy Combs trial wrapped up in New York City yesterday. The hip-hop mogul is accused of sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy. Several witnesses have testified as NPR's Isabella Gomez Sarmiento reports and a note that this report includes mention of sexual activity and physical violence. The star witness in the government's case against Sean Combs finished her testimony Cassie Ventura spent four days answering questions from the prosecution and Combs defense about

their relationship. Ventura testified that she loved Combs, but he was often violent and forced her to have sex with male escorts. After Ventura's cross-examination, prosecutors called an agent from Homeland Security Investigations to the stand to lay some of the groundwork for the sex trafficking charges. At the end of the day, singer Dawn Rashard began her testimony. She said she saw Combs hit Ventura more than once. Rashard will continue testifying on Monday.

Isabella Gomez-Ramiento, NPR News. And I'm Dua-Helisa Icao-Tau in New York.